Studies in American History 
163 
The whole number of votes cast was 254; necessary to a choice 128. 
Of the votes cast, General Winfield Scott of New Jersey received 16; 
Henry Clay of Kentucky received 90; and General William Henry Harri- 
son of Ohio received 148.“^ 
General Harrison, having received a majority of all the 
votes polled for president, the committee asked leave to sit 
again for the purpose of balloting for a candidate for vice- 
president. Leave was granted, and the convention adjourned 
to meet again on the following morning (Saturday) at 10 
o’clock.26 
Almost immediately after the assembling of the conven- 
tion on Saturday, a resolution was introduced declaring 
General Harrison the nominee of the convention, and it was 
supported in enthusiastic speeches by many of the friends 
of Clay. While the jubilee was still going on, the committees 
that had been considering the matter of a candidate for the 
vice-presidency made a report that John Tyler of Virginia 
had received the unanimous vote of the convention. This 
unanimous vote, however, was only 231, the Virginia delega- 
tion having requested to be excused from voting on account 
of delicacy, since they were unanimous in their sentiments 
in favor of Mr. Tyler. The name of Tyler was thereupon 
joined to that of General Harrison in the pending resolu- 
tion, and the vote was carried in a whirlwind of enthusiasm. 
The convention then adjourned sine die, without having given 
expression in any form to the principles of the party which 
it represented. Even in the many speeches made during the 
four-days’ session, there was hardly a positive assertion of 
a principle made by any delegate. It was all hatred and 
opposition to Van Buren and the ‘Hoco-Focos’’.^^ 
Each of the candidates before the convention had many points 
in his favor. Mr. Clay’s talent, eloquence, and personal fas- 
cination of manner attracted a multitude of devoted sup- 
porters. General Harrison’s strength lay in the fact that 
he was the most unobjectionable and therefore the most suit- 
able candidate. Mr. Clay was the favorite candidate of the 
masses of the party; but the leaders doubted his availability 
as a candidate in New England and the Middle States. An 
antislavery feeling urged the selection of some candidate who 
was not a slaveholder. Furthermore, there was the lesson 
Niles’ Register, LVII, 250. 
26 /bid:., LVII, 250. 
Ihid., LVII, 248-252. 
